Monday 4 November 2013

Group critique- reflecting on research report introductions

Today we had a group meeting to discuss the introductions of our research reports. At the moment my question has been altered to 'Is having an agent a useful tool for freelance illustrators in order to be successful in their chosen field of the industry?' which is better than my previous title, asking if agents are a 'necessity' as it was too narrow. I might alter it slightly again but people seemed content that the title was straight forward and to the point of my investigation.

The critique took the same format as before, spending time reading each person's introductions individually and making notes that I now have from my peers to reflect upon. The main piece of feedback seems to be to mention what artists and agencies I will interview in my introduction, and in general to make a list of who I want to contact and get feedback as quickly as possible. I know that I am planning to interview the illustration tutors Matt and Chris, and Chris previously said to me that he would put me in contact with his agency so I need to generate my questions and get those sent out as soon as possible. People also seemed concerned that I make sure to look at illustrators who are unrepresented and collectives that are run by a group of people as an alternative, which is something I am defiantly planning to pursue. I will make sure to go to the library and get some information out on collectives and email some for my research.

Phantom Space Storms, Matthew Richardson

In terms of the structure and content of my introduction the feedback was generally positive, saying my intentions were clear and focused and Catrin said that overall it was a good setting out of my territory. Reflecting on the main body of my essay I received some useful points to consider such as how will I define success; is there another way to define it other than income? Will I judge my findings on personal experiences as having an agent seems to be a personal preference? I suppose the answers to those questions are that money is only half the way to success- personal satisfaction and happiness is the other half so I intend to ask questions that look into whether they were content with their agent, did they get the coverage and progression with that agent or without it that they were looking for? In terms of the other question I haven't quite decided how I will define the answers to my research, I think that is something that will begin to naturally form through my interviews and secondary research and I am certainly aware of the fact that some of the feedback I recieve might be bias. Another question that Catrin posed to me was: 'Is the market changing- can you foresee a time that illustrators no longer need agents?', which could be a good question to pose in my conclusion when looking at the future of my debate. The issue of whether the relationship between illustrators and agents is purely professional or attained on a more personal basis is something to investigate through my questions as well.

'The Collector', Chris Gibbs

The next step seems to be map out what I am going to do chapter by chapter and where my report is going to end up- who will I be interviewing and what will the subject matter of each chapter be? The introduction should map out the territory, like an essay plan and intention- 'a set of instructions'. I also need to make sure to keep a bibliography continually going to make sure I don't forget anything!

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